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SANTA FE - The state would force about 4,000 students a year to repeat the third grade, under a bill approved Tuesday by the House of Representatives.
Children not proficient in reading would be be held back, and their parents could not veto the decision, as is possible now.
The bill, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Mary Helen Garcia of Las Cruces, carried 62-5. It next goes to the Senate.
New Mexico's fourth-graders are among the poorest readers in the nation, according to a variety of tests and surveys. Garcia said the bill would begin to change that by retaining struggling third-graders and helping them through "intensive remediation."
The bill also would place greater demands on teachers in the early grades, so that they do not let children reach third grade without reading proficiently.
Only about 1 percent of the state's 25,000 third-graders are retained now. Republican Gov. Susana Martinez calls this "social promotion," in which students who have not mastered the basics are moved ahead anyway.
Martinez wanted to stop social promotions by holding back underperforming students in grades 3, 5 and 8, but legislators considered that plan too drastic. They settled instead on Garcia's compromise proposal, in which third-graders who fare poorly on an assessments test would be forced to repeat that year of school.
Critics of the bill said it does not ensure that more money would be available to help districts that would need additional teachers and even more
Las Cruces Schools Superintendent Stan Rounds said the students held back likely would be those in the lowest tier of a reading assessment exam. They account for about 16 percent of third-graders, or about 4,000 children.
Las Cruces, the second-largest district in the state, probably would have to accommodate 500 kids repeating third grade, Rounds said. He said this could strain his budget and his classroom space.
Rep. Ken Martinez, D-Grants, voted for the bill but said he was worried that additional money needed to help poor readers would not be available.
Garcia said pools of federal education grants, exceeding $225 million a year, could be tapped to help pay for more reading teachers.
Rep. Martinez said he also disliked a provision that would require parents to pay for summer school, except in cases of impoverishment.
Rep. Nora Espinoza, R-Roswell, cosponsored the bill. She said she was weary of discussions revolving around money rather than student achievement.
One national survey found that 80 percent of New Mexico's fourth-graders do not read proficiently. Espinoza said student performance did not improve when the state's budget was healthy and schools had streams of money flowing in.
Espinoza called the retention program a first step toward improving primary education.
If the bill becomes law, it would take effect in 2012-13.
Santa Fe Bureau Chief Milan Simonich can be reached at msimonich@tnmnp.com or (505) 820-6898. His blog is at nmcapitolreport.com.
